All About Vitamin A

There’s a very good reason as to why we refer to vitamin A as “Vitamin Eye.” Simply put, vitamin A is the superhero of the eye health world.

Vitamin A can help your vision in a number of ways, but it is also widely thought to help boost your immune system and help with cell growth. Vitamin A also increases neurological function and gives you radiant skin.

Look at me, boasting about vitamin A like it’s my own child. Enough surface facts, what about vitamin A actually makes it such a powerful vitamin? How does it differ from all the other vitamins out there?

Vitamin A: The Powerful Retinoid and Antioxidant

There are two types of vitamin A. One type, most commonly found in animal products, is a vitamin A retinoid that is soluble in fat. The more commonly known type, beta-carotene, comes from plants, fruits and vegetables.

The body absorbs both these types of vitamin A to act as antioxidants that fight free radicals. Free radicals can be detrimental to anyone’s health. When free radicals start forming in the body, they create a chain reaction that can cause severe cell damage and sometimes cell deaths.

When vitamin A is present in the body, it creates a stable bond between molecules, which prevents free radicals from forming. This makes for a healthier overall immune system, promotes healthy cell development (especially in children) and it keeps your retina safe from irreversible cell damage.

Free radicals forming in the body are hard to spot, but some other symptoms of a vitamin A deficiency are not. A gluten sensitivity, inflammatory bowel disease and pancreatic disorders are all signs of a potential vitamin A deficiency.

Unlike other vitamins and minerals which are easily absorbed into the body through foods and other sources, vitamin A deficiencies are becoming all too common. The people most at risk of developing a vitamin A deficiency are alcoholics, pregnant women of low income and young children.

However, this vitamin A deficiency isn’t always a result of an unhealthy or imbalanced diet. It is sometimes caused by malabsorption. When this happens it means that the body is not absorbing vitamin A as it should, which is why deficiencies are common in people going through bodily changes.

Vitamin A deficiencies are treated as any other vitamin deficiency would be treated. A doctor assesses the degree of your deficiency and then recommends a daily dosage of vitamin A supplements. You’ll have to keep up with the supplements until your vitamin A supply has been replenished.

Like any deficiency, a vitamin A deficiency can be harmful to everyone, but it is especially harmful to babies and young children. A vitamin A deficiency gone untreated in this case can lead to development issues and blindness.

The deficiency speaks for itself. Get your vitamin A to avoid more heartache than you need.

Vitamin Eye

Vitamin A has long been the go-to vitamin for eye health. Even your mom knew when she told you that you couldn’t play until you ate all of your carrots. Though mom might not have known exactly what is was about carrots that made them so good for the eyes, we’ll give her credit for one heck of a mother’s intuition.

Aside from fighting free radicals, studies have shown that people with a healthy amount of vitamin A in their diets are less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is a disease that affects almost everyone as then get older. As the name suggests, AMD is the deterioration of the macula in the eye.

Vitamin A also helps regulates the thickness of the cornea. Too soft, and the cornea is susceptible to developing various infections and may even lead to a ruptured cornea. Too thick, and the cornea can become so thick that it will cause clouded vision, followed by irreversible blindness.

Some added benefits of vitamin A for your eye health are that it keeps your eyes moist which is great remedy for those with dry eyes; and it can help your eye adjust to different lights. We’ve all had that horrible experience of being cooped up all day, only to step out into the blinding sun and being temporarily blinded.

Whether you have naturally dry eyes or it’s a result of a side effect of a prescribed medication, vitamin A is the vitamin for you.

Where to Find Vitamin A: Food and Supplements

You can find vitamin A in various animal products and plant based foods. You can also find it in supplement form. Supplements come in either tablet form or in candy gummy form.

Tip: gummy supplements can be a good way to trick your kids into taking their daily dose of vitamin A. We won’t tattle.

For the parents, we’d like to recommend our Ocu-Plus Formula. This supplement comes loaded with vitamin A, along with other vitamins and nutrients to achieve optimal eye health.

Maybe supplements don’t interest you and you’d prefer to get your vitamins and nutrients from a healthy diet. Well, hey, that’s great! We have just the food suggestions for you!

The rule of thumb is that the brighter or more highly pigmented the food, the higher in beta-carotene it is. Keep that in mind the next time you find yourself at the grocery store.

While you’re there, you may want to look into these vitamin A rich foods:

Carrots

Sweet potatoes

Bell peppers (especially red ones)

Kale and spinach

Mangos

Turkey and beef liver

Butternut squash

These are our favorites, but feel free to mix and match them with your regular grocery list! Your body and eyes need vitamin A to function and prevent disease. Get vitamin A into your diets however you like; you may even learn a few new recipes along the way!

About Orlin Sorensen

My vision started to get blurry as a young teenager. Soon I was wearing glasses for just about everything. This was a hard blow for me because I had always dreamed of becoming a U.S. Navy fighter pilot which required perfect vision without glasses or surgery. But I wasn't ready to give up on my dreams, so I looked into every possible alternative which led me to eye exercises. Through daily vision training and eye exercises, I improved my vision from 20/85 to 20/20 and passed the Navy's visual acuity test. In fact Men's Health declared this one of the "Greatest Comebacks of All Time!" Now, I'm sharing exactly how I did it with the program that helped me so people like you can improve your vision safely and naturally, without glasses, contacts or laser surgery.

I find your articles very interesting and useful. However, the plant foods that you listed above, do only contain beta-carotene which is NOT equivalent to active vitamin A in the body. The conversion in most people is very poor, about 1 % of beta-carotene gets converted in the body into vitamin A. So you would need to eat 50 lb of carrots or more every day to get the vitamn A that you need. It is simply not possible.

That is not to sy that we should not eat the foods that you listed. We should, and they are very healthy and very good for us. Just not as a source of vitamin A.

The real sources of the preformed vitamin A are liver, eggs, butter, milk, fish oil and cheese. And as you can see the Nature made sure to always have some fat in these foods so that the vitamin A can be absorbed properly.

About Us

Founded in 2002, Rebuild Your Vision focuses strictly on researching and developing vision health supplements. As a recognized leader in the field, we are dedicated to continuing our quest of helping people protect and preserve their vision.